Develop: Intentionally Strengthening People's Capacity to Grow and Contribute
In today's rapidly changing world, the concept of development has taken on renewed importance. Organizations, communities, and individuals all recognize that sustainable success depends not just on what we accomplish today, but on our capacity to learn, adapt, and contribute tomorrow. At its core, development can be defined as intentionally strengthening people's capacity to grow and contribute.*
This seemingly straightforward definition contains profound implications for how we approach leadership, education, parenting, and even self-improvement. Let's explore each element of this definition to understand the full richness of what development truly means.
The Power of Intentionality
Development begins with intention. Unlike accidental or coincidental growth that might occur through random experiences, true development involves deliberate choice and purposeful action. When we develop others (or ourselves), we make conscious decisions about:
What capacities most need strengthening
Which approaches will be most effective for different individuals
How to sequence learning experiences for optimal growth
When to challenge and when to support
How to measure and celebrate progress
This intentionality distinguishes development from exposure. Simply placing someone in a new situation doesn't guarantee development; the experience must be accompanied by reflection, feedback, and application to translate into lasting capacity.
Consider two managers approaching an employee's first presentation to senior leadership. The first simply assigns the task, hoping the employee will figure it out. The second intentionally prepares the employee with guidance on expectations, opportunities to practice, constructive feedback, and reflection after the presentation. The latter approach exemplifies the intentionality that characterizes genuine development.
The Focus on Strengthening
Development centers on strengthening—building upon existing capabilities while adding new ones. This strengthening process involves several dimensions:
Deepening knowledge by adding both breadth and depth to what people understand
Enhancing skills through practice, feedback, and progressive challenges
Refining judgment by exposing people to increasingly complex decisions
Clarifying values through reflection on what matters most
Building confidence through graduated successes and supported failures
Effective development recognizes that strengthening doesn't occur through addition alone. Sometimes strengthening requires pruning—helping people identify and move beyond limiting beliefs, counterproductive habits, or outdated approaches that hinder their growth.
The concept of strengthening also implies that development builds upon foundations. Rather than attempting to transform people into something entirely different, development helps them become more fully who they are, leveraging natural strengths while addressing limiting factors.
The People Focus
While we might speak of developing processes, systems, or organizations, our definition emphasizes that true development focuses on people. This human-centered approach recognizes that:
Each person brings unique combinations of strengths, experiences, and potential
Development must be adapted to individual learning styles, motivations, and contexts
Psychological safety provides the foundation for meaningful growth
Relationship quality significantly impacts development effectiveness
Human dignity requires respecting each person's agency in their development journey
This people focus highlights that development is never merely instrumental—not just about improving performance or achieving organizational goals, though these may be important outcomes. At its heart, development honors the inherent value and potential of each person.
The Dual Focus on Capacity
Our definition identifies two core elements of capacity that development strengthens: the capacity to grow and the capacity to contribute. These elements are deeply interconnected yet distinct.
Capacity to Grow
Developing the capacity to grow means helping people become better learners—more able to adapt, evolve, and transform in response to new challenges and opportunities. This meta-capacity includes:
Learning agility: The ability to learn quickly in unfamiliar situations
Reflective capability: The habit of extracting meaningful lessons from experiences
Growth mindset: The belief that abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work
Self-awareness: The accurate perception of one's strengths, limitations, and impact on others
Resilience: The ability to bounce back from setbacks and use them as growth opportunities
By strengthening these meta-capacities, development creates an upward spiral where each learning experience enhances the ability to learn from future experiences. People become not just more capable but more developable.
Capacity to Contribute
Equally important is strengthening the capacity to contribute—to add value to organizations, communities, and relationships. This capacity includes:
Technical expertise: The knowledge and skills specific to particular domains
Collaborative capability: The ability to work effectively with others toward shared goals
Innovation potential: The capacity to generate and implement new ideas
Leadership effectiveness: The ability to influence and enable others
Cultural contribution: The capacity to shape positive organizational or community cultures
Development that strengthens contribution capacity creates immediate value while also building long-term potential, as people apply their growing capabilities to increasingly significant challenges and opportunities.
The Integration of Growing and Contributing
Perhaps most powerful is the integration of these two elements—growing and contributing. They reinforce each other in a virtuous cycle:
Contribution provides the real-world application that deepens learning
Growth expands the range and impact of possible contributions
Contributing in new ways creates opportunities for accelerated growth
Growing in capacity opens doors to new forms of contribution
Development that integrates these elements creates not just short-term performance improvement but sustainable impact that compounds over time.
The Ethical Dimensions of Development
Because development involves intentional influence on people's growth trajectory, it carries inherent ethical responsibilities. Ethical development requires:
Respecting each person's autonomy and agency in their development journey
Being transparent about development purposes and approaches
Considering both short-term performance needs and long-term human flourishing
Creating psychologically safe environments where risk-taking and learning are supported
Ensuring that development strengthens rather than diminishes human dignity
These ethical considerations distinguish authentic development from manipulation or exploitation. True development empowers people rather than creating dependency, builds capacity rather than merely extracting performance, and serves purposes that benefit both the individual and the broader community.
Conclusion: Development as Transformation
Understanding development as intentionally strengthening people's capacity to grow and contribute provides not only conceptual clarity but practical guidance. This definition reminds us that development transcends training, performance management, or advancement systems, though it may incorporate all these elements.
At its heart, development represents a deeply transformative process—changing not just what people know or can do but who they are becoming. When approached with the care and intentionality this definition implies, development creates ripples of positive impact that extend far beyond immediate performance gains to shape the future of organizations, communities, and individual lives.
In our next blog, we'll explore practical approaches to development across different contexts, from organizational settings to community initiatives to personal growth.
*Lead Develop Care Terry Cook